HAMILTON AGAINST F1 CARS BEING FITTED WITH AIRCON UNITS

 Seven-time world champion Hamilton feels FIA's plan to test aircon on F1 cars is unnecessary for well-trained drivers.

Lewis Hamilton is dismissive of FIA's plan to test a simplified air conditioning system in Formula 1 car cockpits to aid drivers in extreme heat, as he feels training alone should suffice.

Motorsport.com exclusively revealed over the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix weekend how the governing body is set to trial the device it has developed in response to the struggles of various racers at last season’s Qatar race in sweltering conditions.

The first test will take place on a single car during practice for the upcoming Dutch GP at Zandvoort, while further proof-of-concept experiments are planned at subsequent races.

If the system works successfully, Motorsport.com understands the FIA will open up the design details to allow companies to build their own versions that F1 teams will have to buy and fit to their cars only when session conditions hit certain, so far undefined, temperature thresholds.

Hamilton was asked about the idea in the post-race press conference for last weekend’s race at Budapest, which rivalled the Imola and Austrian GPs for the hottest of the season so far – in terms of peak temperatures around 33°C in each of the contests.

When asked for his views on the proposed system, Hamilton, who had brought a handheld fan into the press conference room at the Hungaroring following his exertions to finish third behind winner Oscar Piastri and runner-up Lando Norris, replied: “Well, firstly, I didn't know that.

“And it's not needed. This is Formula 1. It's always been like this. It's tough in these conditions.

“We're highly-paid athletes. And you've got to train your arse off to make sure you can withstand the heat, ultimately.

“It's tough. It's not easy, especially when you go to places like Qatar and Singapore. But I don't think we need an AC unit in the car.”

The FIA’s aircon idea was developed as part of the governing body’s promise to avoid a repeat of the scenes witnessed when the fast, demanding Qatar track returned to the F1 calendar last year.

Its schedule-placing in early October meant even during its night-time track session settings temperatures for the race never dipped below 31°C.

This led to several drivers having suffering physical problems as they pushed on over the race’s 57-laps, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant withdrawing with heatstroke, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon vomiting in his helmet and Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll briefly passing out.

- Alex Kalinauckas

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HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX FRIDAY PRACTICE

 McLaren and Lando Norris led the way on pure pace in a sweltering Hungarian Grand Prix Friday practice showing. But the long-run times from the upgrade-assessing Red Bull squad suggest another intriguing battle at the front between Formula 1 2024’s top two squads is set to come on Sunday in Budapest.

Lando Norris and McLaren led the way on pure pace on Friday at Formula 1’s 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix, but a deeper look at the long-run times suggests Red Bull possesses a race pace advantage at this stage.

Red Bull also spent the day assessing the impact of its much-discussed engine cover cooling upgrade applied so far only to Max Verstappen’s car, while Ferrari too was working through what data it could on its reworked Barcelona floor amid Charles Leclerc’s disrupted day.

All that and more is included in our assessment of where things stand so far at the Hungaroring.

The story of the day.

In FP1, sweltering temperatures were the most notable element – with track heat peaking at 59.1°C, which Pirelli claims is only topped in its historical F1 data by 60°C in the 2018 race here and the 61°C in FP1 at the 2016 Malaysian GP.

F1 got to glimpse at Verstappen’s heavily revised RB20 – minus the high-waisted cooling gulleys added to Red Bull’s package at the start of the year – when he headed out of the pits, while Perez continued with the team’s old design.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko would later claim “Checo has got the same upgrade as Max, but that one part [sidepod and engine cover] is the most obvious to see, so everyone thinks that he doesn’t have it”.

“But Checo has the rest,” Marko continued. “So the difference is marginal in terms of performance.”

Aston Martin also split its car specification in FP1, as only Fernando Alonso ran its raft of front wing, halo, floor, diffuser and beam wing updates (Lance Stroll got these for FP2). Here the Ferraris were fitted with the revised floors that the Scuderia hopes will cure the high-speed corner bouncing that has afflicted the SF-24s since Barcelona.

Carlos Sainz led the way in the day’s opening session, setting a best time of 1m18.713s to forge ahead of Leclerc, before Verstappen nipped in with a 1m18.989s to end up 0.276s down in second. Verstappen was, however, running used softs and so missing peak new tyre freshness, as he’d opened up on the softs when the Ferraris ran hards.

In FP2, Ferrari’s day took a downturn, as Leclerc caused a long red-flag period with his Turn 4 crash in the initial running on mediums. Running wide onto the exit kerbs at the fast left-hander unsettled his car and spun him off and backwards into the barriers on the track’s outside. After a 15-minute delay as the barriers were rearranged, the pack headed back out en masse on the softs, which meant Perez’s early session-leading 1m18.568s on the mediums was eclipsed.